What DVD drive ?

I’m looking for a DVD drive to replace my garbage Sony Optiarc AD-7220A. Ever since I bought it in 2009 it’s been terrible. I contacted Play.com who said that they’d look into it, but they didn’t get back to me.

Most of the time, it makes all sorts of noises, clicks, rattles etc

Sometimes the drawer will open – sometimes it won’t.

Sometimes it will read a disk – sometimes it won’t.

Sometimes it will work – sometimes it won’t.

I have tried a dozen or so different disks, sizes, types & brands etc – all to no avail.
This was supposed to have been the best drive that I’d ever had – but it proved to be the worse one. My older, cheaper drives are still going strong, whereas this one has been garbage ever since I had it.
I really was expecting a bit more from such a good brand, especially after the hype – at the time – about this model. I was also expecting better service from Play.com.

I have completely re-built my machine 10 months ago (Asus MB + Phenom CPU + PSU + Seagate 1Tb HDD + Samsung 1Tb HDD + nVidia graphics etc). I was rather hoping that this would in some way help the ailing Sony item, but that is now the weak link on my system.

I just can’t rely on this thing working when I need it to.

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I havn’t looked into Bluray yet – mainly cos I havn’t needed to, so I suppose a ‘normal’ drive is what I’m after. The Sony item was about the best thing – at the price – that was around at the time, but I’ve lost faith in the brand. What’s around now ? Have ‘speeds’ altered at all ? Apart from Bluray, what should I be looking for in a replacement ?

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I don’t think I’m interested in Bluray, but Justin Case, what entry level stuff could I look at ?